STATCOUNTER

October 2013

What’s so frightening about typos? It’s how easy they are to notice in other people’s writing, but how difficult to discern in your own work. So, in the sprit of Halloween, here are some that I have collected. (I have omitted the recent typo where I called the former Charmin spokesperson Mr. Whittle instead of his proper name, Mr. Whipple, because it is my blog, not yours.)As I’ve noted before, we all realize by now that spell check, like food past its expiration date, may be good, but usually not good enough. And yes, I prefer a good idea, no matter how mangled its presentation, to a boring thought that is immaculate in its appearance. But, just be careful out there.And if you don’t see the typo in each instance, look again. Because no matter how tempted I was to put in an example that had no mistake in it, cooler heads prevailed.

Catch the action-packed trailer for Pitt's upcoming thriller. After the lengthy weight, will you go see World War Z in theaters?

Are you the Business Owner who has to where all the hats?

"In terms of new product categories specifically," he said, "if you look at the skills that Apple has from hardware, software, and services, and an incredible app ecosystem, this set of things are very, very unique."

There are enough puns, bad and good, in this recent advertising column in the New York Times that I felt certain Stuart Elliott wrote it. But it was Andrew Adam Newman who took verbal advantage of the marketing promo being discussed.

Actually, the promotion was a good idea, from Charmin toilet paper. Andrew reports that in 2000, Charmin introduced Potty Palazzo, bathrooms stocked with Charmin that appeared at events around the country. And for the holiday shopping season, from 2006 to 2010, Charmin set up bathrooms near Times Square that had over 1 million users.

“We’re starting a movement,” Charmin says in their web site, plunging right in with their own scatological humor. Their latest effort finds them transporting about 20 restrooms to N.F.L. stadiums, calling them Charmin Tailgating Potties. Scott Matzo, the Charmin marketing director, said the purpose was to surprise fans that were expecting the breath-holding experience found with most portable toilets.

(And I suppose now is a good time to ask the question I am certain Mr. Elliott, another Brooklynite, would pose: Who decided that calling watered-down perfume “toilet water” would be appealing?)

Charmin also sends mobile bathrooms and products to disaster areas, which is great. And they are also encouraging Twitter messages from bathrooms, using the hashtag #tweetfromtheseat. Which is perhaps not as great.

Bottom line (pun intended) Charmin has come a long way from Mr. Whipple, and in the end should be very happy with their latest marketing efforts.

Where do you keep your “This’ll make me a millionaire” ideas? I keep mine in the lower left drawer of my desk, scribbled on a yellow sheet. And as time passes, I cross off the ideas that I had that someone else has actually brought to market. Like the app that reminds you after the movie or show that you had muted your phone and it is time to turn your phone volume back on. That idea was safely ensconced in my desk till I saw someone had actually come out with that app.

And there was the realization a while back that since smoking was being banned in New York restaurants, how about keeping the matchbooks with the restaurant’s logo. But instead of having it filled with matches, put in little pads of paper. As the two photos below indicate, this has been done…and very nicely. There are, unfortunately, many other examples of ideas that, like many of us, I did nothing with. And received nothing in return.

Point is, ideas are plentiful. But fear, excuses, or “That’s not the business I’m in” syndrome stop us from actually attempting to bring the ideas to market. Part of the problem, of course, is the time and investment necessary to physically create the idea. The New York Times “The Idea” column by Jack Hitt talks about one such invention that took 19 years to get to the marketplace. “For a cook in Gary, Ind., the concept was the easy part. Then came the grunt work of bringing it to the market.”

So I would suggest opening your bottom left drawer, and putting your ideas on your desk. Because even though seeing someone else successfully market your idea may confirm its value to you, it still now belongs to “someone else.”

Remember when you were in school, the teacher asked a question, and all the hands shot up? Well, how did the teacher decide from among this sea of waving digits? I’m guessing he rarely picked the smartest students, because he knew they would probably have the answer, and what fun is that? Maybe he selected the average students, or the dumber ones. Or someone who was his personal favorite. Or someone he had not called on recently.

The point for you is, how do you make certain you get picked? When you create your marketing materials, you hope that whomever you created it for will notice your work, and take some action. But because there may be some others out there selling the same kinds of things—usually known as the competition—your target is faced with a sea of hands, each one pleading, “Pick me. Pick me.”

Unlike the schoolteacher, there is only one reason your prospect will pick your message instead of someone else’s…you can only be chosen if someone actually notices you. If he sees your hand waving till you get his attention.

Now, in some ways you are facing the same problem you did in school. There may be others out there that are smarter than you are. Or they may be a personal favorite, translated here to mean they are already a loyal client of the competition, and you have to wave even harder to get them to notice you.

But how about waving both hands? Or wearing a red glove. Or ringing a bell as you wave?

OK, we are finished with the metaphor. You get the point. Your marketing must stand out, must be different. Raising your hand for attention won’t work if you look and sound like everyone else. You can’t be dull, dreary, lackluster, invisible and still expect to be chosen.

The first U.S. patent, issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31, 1790, for an innovative way of making "pot ash and pearl ash" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

OK, so getting ideas is not always easy. But if you have an idea for a product, or a new invention, getting the idea is not necessarily the toughest part. As Alina Tugend points out in a recent article, the United States Patent and Trademark office had 1.5 million patent applications pending last year. So ideas are booming. Though in many cases, as one interviewee points out, “The invention was the easy part. Marketing and getting it out is horrible.”

I know you keep coming up with ideas. And happily, you know a lot about marketing. Heck, you’re reading this blog, so hopefully you know more than most. But read the article to become aware of the pitfalls, the patent process and patent agents.

And keep in mind, as Mark Reyland of the United Inventors Association said, “Don’t rush to cash out your 401(k) to finance your creation. That’s hope wrapped in adrenaline.”

The title of this post is attributed to Janis Joplin, and is one of my new favorite quotes. It works for real life, and certainly is a good test of your marketing ideas.

Here are some additional quotes, from a conference of the Association of National Advertisers. No, I didn’t attend, but I did read them in a recent advertising column by Stuart Elliott. And though most of us small business folk don’t often create national advertising, we certainly should share the creative philosophies expressed.

Not to be outdone in the morbidity department, John Costello, from Dunkin’ Brands, declared

“Differentiate or die.”

And to complete the trifecta, Stephen Quinn, chief marketing officer at Walmart U.S., showed a copy of the cover of a magazine headlined

“Change or die.”

Well, the threat of death can certainly lead to innovation. But there were other, less funereal marketing beliefs in the column. Joseph V. Tripodi, chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola, reminded us that risk-taking must become second nature.

“We need to be bold, be disruptive.”

Finally, Mr. Costello, previously cited, gets the last word.

“Marketers tend to be optimists, but you know, hope is not a strategy.”

There is nothing to disagree with among these quotes, but it is good to remember these observations. Especially when you are tired, facing a deadline and ready to settle for anything.

It’s difficult to get away from advertising these days.
Everything from banner ads, skywriting to pop ups. 5,000 exposures a day,
according to one count. But here’s one unlikely place we haven’t yet seen any advertising:
baggage conveyor belts at airports. But it is being done in Japan…and it’s damn
cute!

According to designtaxi, Japanese regional airports place amusing
sculptures on the conveyor belts, advertising local attractions and food
specialties. The artwork is hard to miss, fun and entertaining, while drawing
attention to products and services tourists and travelers might be interested
in the area.

Is there an unexpected place you might show off your product
or service? I bet there are many that are so obvious, we never think of them. Hey,
I remember when the phone booths in New York were actually used for phone
calls, and had blank sides with nary a commercial message in sight.

As I mentioned in a recent Tweet (@uneedagoodidea), “outblandish”
is a word created by Milton Vahue. I have defined it as meaning advertising
that is exceptionally dull, boring and invisible.

Usually there is no mistaking an outblandish communication.
But sometimes in the excitement of creating we follow the guide ropes right
into the ditch.

One example is the proper principle that you should attempt
to convince your target as to why you are different rather than why you are
better. Better is often subjective, judgmental and who says so. However,
pointing out why you are different can get the point across in a less
confrontational way. Different is informative. Different is easily understood.
Different is provable.

Except for those who hear the word “different” and take this
advice literally. Which is why you often see cliché slogans such as:

Deliciously different

Different by design

Taste the difference

Different as can be

Sure, the focus is on being different. But the expression of
that thought is, dull, boring…outblandish!